The Power of One

This book was recommended to me by a friend as her "all time favorite novel". I started it and was pleased to become immediately hooked. The writing is beautiful and the characters are endearing. Little Peekay stole my heart for the first half of the book. It had me laughing one minute and crying the next. I've never cared much about boxing, but the fight scenes were riviting. About halfway through the book something changes - our little Peekay becomes so full of himself that I'm beginning to wish some more bad luck would come his way just to bring him back to the status of a mere mortal. He is constantly in awe of his own intelligence and prowess as a boxer and a scholar. While in total command of thousands of African prisoners, he muses to himself that he "has become a legend". Now enter his new buddie Morrie - the two of them CANNOT LOSE. Everything they touch turns to gold. They are admired by all and cannot imagine life not turning out exactly as they wish it. YES, Peekay did have some terrible times as a young boy, but after that he becomes the chosen one and I for one am sick to death of him. I've got a third of the book left to read and I'm not sure if I can stomach any more of the tadpole angle. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, beause I really did enjoy the first half of the book. Peekay does make quite a few attempts at false modesty, but a little true humility would have made me continue to care about him.

Bryce Courtenay makes THE POWER OF ONE seems so authentic that the reader is carried right into the story.The book begins when a five-year-old boy is being sent off to boarding school. He's small for his age, white and of English descent. His name is Peekay and he lives in South Africa. Up to this point in his life he's known only his family and his beloved black Nanny. Now, he's forced to take care of himself and survive under the most brutal of circumstances. The time is World War II and Peekay spends years in a boarding school where he's the only English student among Afrikaners who are sympathetic to the Nazi cause. He's beaten, tortured and treated as a "prisoner of war" by the older boys. The Afrikaners are the descendents of the Dutch and there has been a great deal of conflict between them and the English settlers who came to South Africa at a later period of time.When I first started reading this novel, I wasn't sure if I could handle the passages about the brutal treatment of the little boy. However, I quickly learned that Peekay is a spirited survivor and would make it through that horrible period of his life. On his vacations from school, he meets several people, both black and white who really influence him and teach him to work hard in order to fulfill his dreams. I found an uplifting joy in every success that Peekay experienced.This is a big book, but I looked forward to my reading sessions every day and I'm sure that part of this story will remain in my mind forever. The character of Peekay is very inspiring.Next, I plan to read the sequel, TANDIA.

This is the chronicle of Peekay, a disadvantaged South African white boy who, at the age of six, decides that he will be the welterweight champion of the world. The story begins in 1939 when Peekay is five, and he is the smallest lad at a boarding school where his bed-wetting affliction is getting him in trouble. He suffers constant abuse from a band of Nazi worshipping older boys, and even the teachers. Peekay copes using his �camouflage,� his chameleon like skill to disguise his true nature.After a year or so at the boarding school, Peekay is reunited with his mother, who had been hospitalized for conniptions, and his grandfather. He has no father, the author never reveals why not, and none, least of all Peekay, seem to miss him. His mother and grandfather are dear, but uninfluential. Peekay treats his mother with tender respect, fearing that she will have another nervous breakdown, but he shuns her distorted Jesus-freak perception of the world. Grandpa, who mostly tends roses and diddles with his pipe, isn�t much help either.Peekay is a prodigy, and he has the good fortune to choose good mentors, including a pugilistic railway conductor and an inveterate recidivist at the local penitentiary. The most important of his tutors, however, is Doc, a washed out concert pianist who teaches music and collects aloe and cacti. As Peekay and Doc explore the African veld, Doc tutors Peekay on many subjects, especially the value of thinking for himself.Through Peekay, Doc and a host of other well crafted characters, Courtenay scrutinizes the logic of born again Christians, the ordained superiority of white men, the relevance of Jewishness, the glory of the English Empire, the origin of Afrikanerdom, the philosophy of apartheid, the disposition of cacti versus roses, and the significance of all deaths, even that of a kaffir chicken. He entangles these concerns with strands of poignant romaticization. You might want to keep the Kleenex box handy, particularly when Doc recuperates his musical genius long enough to compose the Concerto of the Great Southland.This is a review of the paperback edition.

Imagine this fairy tale: A boy of English heritage is born in South Africa after the Boer war and during the rise of Nazi Germany. He suckles at the breast of a loving nanny the first 2 1/2 years of his life. Nanny provides physical and emotional nourishment. Grandpa is a male figure-head with some, but little, positive influence. Father unknown. Mother has a nervous breakdown and is sent away. At 5 yrs of age, the boy is sent to a boarding school where he is taunted, teased and physically abused. The "Judge," (an older boy with a swastika tattooed on his arm), pronounces sins committed by the boy and punishment to follow. The boy is called "Pisskop" because he wets the bed. Pisskop learns it is better to endure the torture,and never give his tormenters the satisfaction of seeing him cry. He is a determined, precocious child of genius level intelligence. But how will he survive the mistreatment by Boer children and Nazi sympathizers? He miraculously survives the torture for almost 2 years. Then, he is called to live with his grandpa and now cured mother. For this meeting, he must no longer go bare-foot. Tackies are bought from a Jewish man who renames him "Peekay." What kind of name is "Pisskop" for a nice little boy? On the train ride home, Peekay meets a professional boxer. Within 24 hours, Peekay learns about boxing, sees a boxing match, and makes a definitive decision to become the welterweight champion of the world. His mother has become a born-again Christian. His grandpa - still a figure head. Peekay walks the countryside, meets Professor Von Vollensteen - the "Doc." Doc is the fairy godfather who becomes Peekay's most devoted friend, mentor and teacher. Doc is a musician, photographer and botanist. He is later imprisoned because he is a German. Peekay is sent to a boarding school to be educated. He is far more intelligent than peers his age. He moves upward quickly in educational ranks. He wins a scholarship to the Prince of Wales School where he meets Morris, a Jewish boy of like intelligence. They become best friends. Peekay has, from 7 years of age, learned to fight as a boxer. He shows unusual talent and is given boxing lessons. His best coach is the multi-racial prisoner, Geel Piet. Peekay visits Doc in prison, takes piano lessons and boxing lessons. The Black prisoners call him "Tadpole Angel" - an angel sent to rescue them. They know that Peekay smuggled tobacco, sugar and rations to them. Peekay feels the "power of one" after winning a boxing match. But it is not only about winning - "the power of one is above all, the power to believe in yourself." Peekay and Morrie test for Rhodes scholarships. The scholarship committee believes that Peekay's boxing goals make him a lesser candidate despite his remarkable intelligence and test scores. Peekay refuses Morrie's offer to pay his tuition to Oxford. Peekay goes to work in a copper mine, earns enough to pay his own way. At the copper mine, Peekay is met by his childhood tormenter, the Judge. The Judge, in a drunken stupor, threatens to kill Peekay. Peekay is lighter and smaller, but with superior intelligence and boxing skills, he pummels the Judge in vengeance and fury. He has his revenge. He is on his way to Oxford and boxing glory. A fairy-tale? Once tormented child conquers hatred, fear and ignorance, and spreads tolerance, love and knowledge and lives happily ever after? Simple story? End of story? No, there is more. There is love and emotion intertwined within the bonding of Peekay and Professor "Doc" Von Vollensteen. Doc - a Darwinian character who grades the best by "an eleven of ten" - yes, "schmarty pants," "absoloodle"! You cannot help but love and laugh with them. And learn...Doc teaches Peekay to find botanical specimens. Doc's description of the cactus is priceless. Doc teaches Peekay to play the piano well, yet knows Peekay will never be a great pianist. There is despair. You feel racial injustice. Hatred. Whites against Blacks. Boers against rooineks (Brits). Nazis against Jews. You swell with pride when young Peekay defends and helps the Blacks who are imprisoned solely because of their color. There is humor. You laugh when fat "Big Hattie," over 6 ft. tall gets trapped between bunks in the train. There is sadness. You cry when Geel Piet is hacked to death and there is no punishment for the crime. You feel Peekay's pain when Doc goes to his death. You feel his sense of spirituality in the atmosphere surrounding Doc's body. There is much to learn - about the Boer war, the Crimean war, Nazis and Hitler, religion, education, boxing, botany, prison life in South Africa, Apartheid, South Africa. You'd like to learn more. Research. Courtenay's characterizations put you there. He makes you feel. He makes you feel that even though the character named Peekay may be a Cinderfella, and the story may be a fairy tale, too good to be true, they are what life should be...

this book is THE BEST BOOK EVER.i have given it as a gift maybe ten times and everyone agrees!!!!!i have read it three times.im not going to tell you any more. just buy it and read it. dont try to figure out if its a good read. just open it and start. you are welcome!